LOS ANGELES -- A California appeals court judge temporarily blocked a Los Angeles natural gas storage facility Friday from reopening a year and a half after a blowout spewed methane that drove thousands of people from their homes.
The order late in the day by Judge Lamar Baker of the 2nd District Court of Appeal came after Los Angeles County lawyers unsuccessfully tried to get a lower court to stop Southern California Gas Co. from resuming operations at Aliso Canyon.
State regulators earlier this month gave approval to allow the company to pump gas into underground storage wells after an overhaul and rigorous testing. The county said it feared operations would resume Saturday.
The facility above the San Fernando Valley has been largely out of commission since an old well failed in October 2015, unleashing methane for nearly four months.
The utility said late Friday that it has met and sometimes exceeded the state's safety requirements for the field, and that "unnecessary delays will challenge our ability to meet" the inventory requirements that regulators are asking for to avoid an energy shortage.
The county's effort to keep the facility closed hinges on a claim that the state's extensive safety review had not taken into account the risk of an earthquake from a fault that runs through the field.
In rejecting the county's petition earlier in the day, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge John Wiley said he didn't have authority to overturn orders by the California Public Utilities Commission.
"So what's my power?" Wiley said. "Zero. I have zero power. Because in the 1950s the Legislature said, 'Hands off. The [public utilities commission] owns this problem.'"
County lawyer Skip Miller disagreed and said the county would file a last-minute request for a stay with the higher court.
"I think your honor is just dead-bang wrong," Miller told the judge. "This is super important to the county of LA and the 30,000 people who live out there."
The county's appeal said it needed to block operations because it was notified that the company planned to resume operations Saturday, and if that happened its legal bid would be moot.
Chris Gilbride, a Southern California Gas Co. spokesman, said the utility has a few steps to complete before it can resume storing gas and wasn't sure when it would restart.
The state allowed the gas company to resume limited operations earlier this month under stricter rules put into effect after the blowout. Fewer than half of the 114 wells in the field have passed tests that would allow them to be used.
The county, however, said the state's review didn't adequately address the threat of a strong quake rumbling across the Santa Susana Mountains where the field is located.
"That's a recipe for disaster," Miller said. "We think they're jumping the gun."
The county's legal filing included emails and a declaration from a former Southern California Gas Co. manager who raised concerns several years ago about the danger. Jim Mansdorfer, who managed the company's gas storage wells for years, said the Santa Susana fault could rupture all wells and release gas at 100 to 1,000 times the rate of the 2015 blowout.
In response, the state said the facility has likely undergone more scrutiny from a regulatory agency than any facility in the U.S. and the county didn't have a valid claim but could appeal to regulators.
A Section on 07/30/2017